Nicholas+Richardson

=Nick Richardson=

=__Amino Acids:__= are very small biomolecules with an average molecular weight of 135 daltons.

**Standard amino acids**
====Amino acids are the structual units that make up the proteins in your body. Each amino acid is always attached to two neighboring molecules. The process of building proteins is called translation and is a build up of amino acids, which eventually form a protein. Twenty-two amino acids are naturally found in polypeptides and are called proteingenic, or standard amino acids.==== ====**Non-standard amino acids** There are many "non-standard" amino acids, these amino acids are also found in proteins. The amino acids are modified after the translation in protein synthesis. The post-protein synthesis modifications are sometimes essential for the function or regulation of proteins.====

====**Amino acids in nutrition** There are eight essential amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine). Although, you would like to consume all twenty-two standard amino acids for proper protein synthesis. There are many amino acids which help with muscle growth, such as glutamine and glutamic acid.====

Davidson, M.W. (2004). The Amino acid collection. Retrieved from http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/aminoacids/index.html The Biology Project, University of Arizona. (2003). The Chemistry of amino acids. Retrieved from http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biochemistry/problem_sets/aa/aa.html

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=The Big Six!=

Carbon- C Oxygen- O Hydrogen- H Nitrogen- N Sulfur- S Phosphorus- P

I have Environmental Science 122 right after Chemistry. Today we spoke about "the big six", which are the six most important elements to life. We also discussed the chemical reasoning behind what makes a substance organic or inorganic. I found this interesting. So i'm going to share what i learned and what i found in further research.

1. Carbon (C), thats what we're made of! So we need it to live. 2. Oxygen (O), we need it to breathe, it is also a major part of water (H2O) and of our protective atmosphere (O3). 3. Hydrogen (H), is apart of water, and essential aspect of life, considering were almost 80% water. 4. Nitrogen (N) makes up 78.8% of the air we breathe. 5. Sulfur (S) is found in two essential amino acids (cysteine and methionine). 6. Phosphorus (P) is a big part of DNA, RNA, ATP's and __Phospho__lipids, all essential parts of our cells!

The term "**organic**" refers to the molecules of living things, an organic organism is defined by its carbon bonds, which are either carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen, with a few exceptions. There are __natural organic compounds__ and __synthetic organic compounds__. But the synthetic branch of organic compounds is where you find your plastics and rubbers, and other human made compounds. "**Inorganic**" is pretty much the exact opposite. It refers to molecules OR compounds with neither carbon bonds.

Cystine is an **organic** amino acid, because it has Carbon-Hydrogen bonds.

Barak, P. (2003). List of essential elements. Retrieved from http://www.soils.wisc.edu/~barak/soilscience326/listofel.htm

A lot of the information also came from Mr. Phillips' Environmental Science 122 period 5 class.

=The fermentation process of sugar into ethanol=

Fermentation is one of the oldest chemical proesses known to man, it is used in many products we use today such as food, beverages, medications and chemicals. Ethanol is made from a variety of agricultural products such as grain, molasses, fruit, whey and sulfite waste liquor.

There are three classifications of fermentation materials (raw materials) : sugars, starches and cellulose material.

Sugars (from sugar cane, sugar beets, molasses, fruits) can be converted to ethanol directly. Starches (from grains, potatoes, root crops) must be hydrolyzed to fermentable sugars by the action of enzymes from malt or molds. Cellulose (from wood, agricultural residues, waste sulfite liquor from pulp and paper mills) must likewise be converted to sugars, generally by the action of mineral acids. Once simple sugars are formed, enzymes from yeast can readily ferment them to ethanol.

to be continued... ([])